Bucs Swap Holmes For 4th-round Pick

September 6, 1989|By George White Of The Sentinel Staff

TAMPA — On Monday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers reached the roster limit of 47, sending 13 players packing out the front door. On Tuesday, they demonstrated that the personnel situation at One Buccaneer Place still is far from settled.

The Bucs accommodated the request of holdout defensive end Ron Holmes, trading him to Denver for a fourth-round draft choice. And they did a further roster trim, putting wide receiver Frank Pillow on injured reserve to dip to 46 players.

Holmes, the eighth pick overall in 1985's draft, missed all of camp after demanding a trade. He led the Bucs in sacks last season, with four, despite missing the final five games with a knee injury. He led the team with 10 sacks in '87. He was a starter in 45 of the 50 games he played with Tampa Bay.

The roster changes could continue, said Coach Ray Perkins, up until Sunday's game against Green Bay.

''We've got an open spot now,'' Perkins said, ''and we do have some needs. We need a tight end. We lack depth on both the offensive line and the defensive line.''

Last year's starter at tight end, Ron Hall, has missed most of training camp with an injury. Playing behind him is William Harris, claimed off the waiver wire last spring after being released by San Francisco. Several tight ends have come and gone through camp, with Perkins unimpressed by all.

''We just don't have much depth in some areas,'' he said. ''Our backup offensive guard rookie Carl Bax is probably not ready to play on a winning level. We still need help there.''

Apparently, quarterback Kerwin Bell will be out of work this season. Bell, a former University of Florida standout, was among those waived Monday by the Bucs, and he was not picked up by another team Tuesday.

''It just comes down to the numbers,'' Bell said. ''Coach Perkins said I didn't do anything that caused me to be released. They were just going to go with two quarterbacks.

''I didn't get the big numbers passing, but the game situations didn't call for me to go out there and throw. Coach Perkins told me if anything happens to one of the quarterbacks, I'll be the first one he would call.''

Perkins agreed that the decision to cut Bell was ''just a numbers thing, period. It was a combination of tight ends, receivers and backs. Actually, we've got to have more tight ends and receivers. We're one or two short.''

Perkins' decision to go with six offensive backs was something of a surprise. He said earlier in camp that five would be the ideal number. But the one back ''on the bubble,'' rookie Jamie Lawson, played well enough to earn a spot.

''And we could afford to carry the extra guy, because Sylvester Stamps acquired as a free agent from Atlanta can do so many other things,'' Perkins said. ''He's an excellent special-teams player, so we felt we had the luxury of carrying one more back.''